How to open and use your browser's JavaScript console

JavaScript is a programming language that runs in web browsers. Most websites use JavaScript and Cytobank is no exception. Most actions and state changes that happen in the Cytobank interface are governed via JavaScript.

The JavaScript console is a command line interface in your browser that can execute snippets of code. When that code snippet is designed to interact with the webpage you are currently on, result can happen that might not have been possible otherwise.

On occasion, Cytobank Support might provide you with code snippets to accomplish tasks that aren't currently possible in the Cytobank user interface.

Opening your browser's JavaScript console

Up to date directions can be found online for opening your browser's JavaScript console, but short descriptions follow below for certain browsers as of the time of writing of this article:

Example of opening the JavaScript console and executing a code snippet

In the following example, the JavaScript console is opened in FireFox, a code snippet is executed to make a new feature appear, and that feature is used to export population tree data to paste into Excel.

Note that refreshing or navigating away from the page will erase any modifications made to Cytobank with external JavaScript.